Troubles that I can't hide
by Iliketowritequick
Summary: After being brutally attacked on her way to date night, Quinn Fabray becomes feeble, weak and reduced. It's up to Santana to bring that spark inside of her. But how does she fix something so badly broken?


**Something that popped into my head that I wanted to play out. This story will have a max of six chapters.**

* * *

**The day**

Sitting in a restaurant, Santana Lopez twiddled her thumbs. She supposed she should've guessed Quinn would freak out and not show up, after all, it was their first official date. Since the disastrous Schuester-Pillsbury wedding, the two girls had agreed to a friends with benefits situation. It only made sense. They loved and trusted each other enough, and both held a certain kind of sadness and loneliness. It was Santana who wanted to take things further though. After exactly two months of being eachother's booty call, the raven haired girl had undoubtedly fallen. Her need to tell Quinn though, it wasn't all that great. But after another month, she finally plucked up the courage and asked the girl on a say she was surprised that Quinn agreed was nothing short of understatement. She remembered having the familiar feeling deep in the pit of her stomach everytime she thought about her, resurface, this time only three times stronger. Yet, here she was. Seated in the restaurant that she and Quinn had agreed to, alone, hungry and most importantly pissed. She'd been here half an hour already, so finally, she agreed to leave. _Screw Quinn Fabray, and screw the idea of ever thinking this could work._

Putting on her coat and grabbing her bag, Santana left the building only to be met with a phonecall. She twisted the phone in her hands as the name of her date flashed across the screen. She momentarily contemplated over whether or not Quinn deserved to have Santana answer her, but, eventually she gave in and brought the cell to her ear, "Quinn! Where in the hell are you? You realise you had me sitting in that fancy ass restaurant for half an hour all alone? You better have a damn good reas-"

She stopped when she heard the voice on the other end of the line, "Miss Lopez?" The quite obviously, older woman asked.

"Uhm.. yeah?"

"This is New York City hospital here.. I'm sorry.." Santana's face flushed a deep shade of red before she could feel her breath hitch, Quinn was in hospital. Quinn was in hospital. "We need someone to help us with Miss Fabray. She's not co-operating. Something's happened, she-" Santana didn't give her time to finish. She didn't want to think of the news that was awaiting her. She would rather see Quinn.

"I'll be there." With that, she hung up and hailed down a taxi. Heart pounding, she told him to get a move on it to the hospital that was a brief ten minute drive away. Immediately she felt guilty. firstly for cursing Quinn and secondly for maybe pressing for them to do something on the far side of town. Quinn was still making the one-hour train journey and the fact that she was in New York City hospital meant that she had hurt herself making her way to their date.

Throwing the cab driver some cash, Santana scrambled out of the car and ran to the front desk, "Quinn- Quinn Fabray?" She breathed. The receptionist nodded and told her room 345. Santana graciously thanked her before going through the hospital corridors. They felt eerily quiet to her. The white washed walls making her feel uncomfortable, it almost felt as though the barren area was making her beating heart louder than what she would've liked, eventually though, she came to Quinn's hospital room. Peering through the glass window of the door, she saw the blonde sitting at the edge of the bed, being looked at by a burly nurse. Her breath hitched upon the sight of her, she looked so different from her usual pristine self that Santana felt a tear begin to trip down her cheek. Arms peppered in bruises, clothes torn and ripped, blood covering them, and her cheek, it was heavily bruised. Santana stood for a moment longer as she watched the nurse try and fail to get Quinn to say something. She took this as her opportunity to go inside the room. Immediately, Quinn lifted her eyes and ran to her, gripping at her clothes before eventually sobbing into her shoulder. Santana, confused by this looked over her shoulder and at the nurse who had a look of sorrow plastered on her face.

"Miss Lopez?" She said softly, watching as Quinn continued to sob into the girl's shoulder. It was the most reaction she'd gotten from the blonde in the past hour. "If I could speak to you alone outside for a moment? Ms Fabray? We'll be right outside the door.."

Quinn pulled away from Santana slightly and the girl could feel her reluctance, her hand gripping onto hers quickly and tightly, the pair of them eventually managed to nod to the nurse, who only offered a small smile in Quinn's direction. Santana gave her hand a small squeeze, "I'll be right back, okay?"

With that, she and the nurse stepped outside the door. Santana immediately turned to her, "what the hell happened to her? And you better not sugarcoat it Lady, Quinn has never, ever reacted like that with me, so spill."

"Miss Lopez, you have to understand, this is a very sensitive situation. Your friend has been through something horrifying and traumatic, there simply isn't a way of sugarcoating it."

Santana crossed her arms tightly over her chest raising her eyebrow for good measure, "mugged?" She questioned, re-thinking Quinn's physical appearance.

The nurse's face turned solemn as she looked the younger girl over. She gave her a small shake of her head, "Miss Fabray, she, was attacked in one of the alleys five minutes from the train station, by a gang."

"A-attacked?"

"She's the victim of a rape.."

Santana's breath hitched slightly and her head spun, after that whatever the nurse had been saying to her was unheard of. She felt sick, like she was going to throw up. Her hand went behind her and she tried holding onto the railings that laced the corridors. "No.." she whispered, thinking back to the way Quinn had held her when she'd entered the room. Or when she had cursed her for not showing up. The nurse, noticing how pale the girl's face had become, grabbed her elbow bringing her back to reality,

"Miss Lopez? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

That was all she needed to set her off in a downward spiral of tears. "No. No she couldn't have- No. She didn't. You got it wrong, you got it wrong."

The nurse shook her head quietly, giving a gentle rub to Santana's arm.

Fifteen minutes. It had taken fifteen minutes for her to eventually stop crying and want to re-enter Quinn's room. But before she did, she had some questions. Ones that she'd prefer Quinn not to hear. Turning to look at the nurse, the dark haired girl wiped under her eyes, "how'd you get here? Did she walk?"

"A woman found her in the street. I think you should know that the only things she's said to us, was your name and hers. She also told us she was attacked. Other than that, she's been silent.."

"Can I take her home?"

"We actually need you to convince her to take some tests. Ms Lopez, we need to collect the DNA as well as check for any infections Ms Fabray could pick up from what happened to her earlier. It'll also be a lot of help for the police who will want to not only question her but catch the attackers. I realise we can't force Quinn to do any of these things, but it'll help her with her recovery."

Santana licked over her lips once, failing to see that she was once again tripping tears. Nodding, she looked through the glass of Quinn's door, watching her as the blonde silently sat on the bed looking at her hands. Anger boiled in the pit of her stomach as she thought of how someone could do this to her Quinn. How dare they hurt her. Walking inside, Santana swallowed any tears that she felt beginning to form in her eyes and proceeded over to Quinn. "Hey," she whispered. "The doctors want to do some tests.." She crouched, careful to look into the girl's eyes, her hand going to rest itself on her thigh. Quinn flinched automatically and Santana retracted it. "Sorry," she murmured. She should know Quinn would be sensitive. "They want to do some tests, and then you can come back to my place? We'll get you cleaned up and you can sleep in Rachel's bed?"

Quinn lifted her eyes slightly, "Where will you be?" To Santana, it was almost unrecognisable. It was hoarse, probably from screaming.. she felt her cheeks burn.. and so quiet that she'd almost missed it.

"I'll be with you the whole time. Holding your hand. I promise."

…

The next hour or so had dragged considerably. Quinn was a hard patient to work with. After her small question to Santana, she'd failed to say another word the entire time. Slowly following the Doctor's requests as he did various tests on her. She was humiliated that she had to go through this procedure, the way people were looking at her like she was some kind of victim made her sick to her stomach. Still, she couldn't help but make herself out to be the victim. She was the victim.

After the procedure, both girls had been sent off in a taxi to Santana, Rachel and Kurt's place. The Latina had texted the pair of them to be out of the apartment when she arrived with Quinn, and whilst they questioned it, both had agreed, so naturally, when she arrived home with her arms protectively wrapped around the blonde's shoulder, she had not been expecting a very angry Rachel Berry to meet her. Placing the key into the door and stepping inside, Santana didn't have time to register what was going on until she felt the hand that was in hers squeezed her tightly.

"I knew it! I knew you were with Quinn. I knew you two have been sneaking around for months now. You were probably wanting to have sex in my bed too. Oh the nerve," Rachel spat after getting up from her position on the couch. She'd actually reacted so loudly and quickly that she'd scared the blonde into crying.

It wasn't something Quinn had expected to happen. she was trying her best to be strong with everything that happened. She was trying to wear a straight face, but Rachel's unexpected presence and yelling had caused her to flinch, grip Santana's hand and ultimately begin to cry. Rachel stopped the moment she heard the first raspy breath escape Quinn's lips and watch as her head sank into Santana's shoulder. The other girl however scowled,

"What the fuck are you playing at Berry?" She hissed through gritted teeth. "I thought I told you I was coming back here with Quinn and that we wanted to be alone.."

"What happened to her?" Rachel whispered, never letting her eyes peel from Quinn, failing to even register that Santana had spoken to her. And with that, the air became thick and the blonde felt as though she couldn't breathe. It was happening already, she was being judged and people looked sorry for her. She wiped her eyes aggressively as she realised how pathetic she was being. She licked her lips once over before letting go of Santana completely and walking to the bathroom only to close the door behind her.

The other girl turned her gaze to look at Rachel, only narrowing her eyes. "What the hell was that about? A- I asked you not to be here when we got home and B- you were looking at her like she was a charity case. What is wrong with you?"

"I knew- I knew you two were sneaking around, and I wanted to catch you out in the act.. I didn't- I didn't mean to scare her."

"Well, you did," Santana started, beginning to follow Quinn to the bathroom. Rachel grabbed her wrist,

"what happened to her?" She asked quietly.

Inside the bathroom, Quinn could hear them. Talking about her. She was the charity case and it made her feel disgusted with herself. Why did she decide that tonight would be the night that she took the back alleys to Bushwick. Of course, she wanted to get there faster but, in the dark? It was a rookie mistake. As was leaving her pepper spray at home. It was all her fault. She was stupid. So stupid. That's what he had called her, and she believed him. She was stupid. So stupid.

Santana turned to look Rachel in the eye, jaw clenched, "you were right. We were sneaking around. For months actually, but tonight… tonight we decided we'd go on a date. see if we could turn it into something more. But Quinn was late. And when is Quinn ever late? Never. I got angry at her, Rach. I thought, I thought she'd abandoned me. So I left- but, I got a call from the hospital." The girl paused, looking down at Rachel's hand that was beginning to grip her tighter, her knuckles growing whiter.

"And?"

"Rachel, she was raped."

…

It had been a little while since Rachel had discovered what had happened to Quinn. Since then, she had refused to leave. Much to Santana's annoyance. What did Rachel care? She got that Quinn was her friend too, but Santana wanted to look after her. She felt as though she owed it to her friend, and Rachel was robbing that from her.

"Hey Quinn," the smaller girl started, "think you're maybe ready for a bath? We'll help you."

The blonde who had instinctively sat next Santana for the past while looked at Rachel, giving her a brief nod. She had been dying to get cleaned up, but the water in the boiler took longer than she cared for to heat up. She was still to say anything, and she'd rather keep it that way. She had disliked the way Santana had reacted to her hoarse throat and she didn't want them looking at her with any more sympathy than what they had given her. Getting to her feet, she never let go of Santana's hand, but led her to the bathroom, where the pair closed the door.

"Hey!" Rachel called, "I wanna help too.."

"We're fine."

"Come on, Quinn, please?"

Sighing, Quinn made her way to the door and unlocked it. Looking away from the pair, she began peeling off her clothes until finally, she stood in her underwear. Suddenly she felt very exposed and immediately her arms went to cover herself. Santana had seen her naked many times before but now with Rachel's presence, she felt uncomfortable. It was also the first time the three of them were exposed to her injuries. She herself was even shocked by their appearance.

"Get out, Rachel." She suddenly murmured, lifting her eyes to the girl.

Surprisingly the girl didn't argue. She quietly nodded before closing the door behind her. In some ways, she was glad Quinn told her to go, she felt ill at the mere sight of her. Another part of her screamed at her to get in there and hold her in her arms. That was a new feeling, but knowing what had happened made Rachel want to be close to the blonde, to let her know that she was willing to protect her. She felt guilty that these were the thoughts that came into her train of thought, given the circumstances. But for the first time in her life, Rachel Berry wished she was Santana Lopez.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Santana was helping Quinn was the remainder of the clothing the hospital had supplied her with. Until finally she stood in front of her entirely naked. The Latina placed her hands on Quinn's cheeks, bringing her forehead to her lips to give her a small kiss before finally gesturing she climb into the tub that she had already began to let water run into.

As soon as the water reached her skin, Quinn gave a small cry. Already she could feel his grubbiness begin to wash away from her and areas that been sore were now easing. She hated that she had to sit through and hour of waiting but now sitting here, she realised it was worth it. Santana had crouched beside her, arms dangling over the baths edge. She offered Quinn a small smile before taking her hand. "You're safe now baby, I'm here."

Quinn returned her smile before leaning forward to place a small kiss on Santana's lips before pulling away, "thank you," she whispered before pulling away all together, now gesturing for Santana to wash her hair.


End file.
